Editing Goldfinger (novel) (section)

==Background and writing history==
By January 1958 the author [[Ian Fleming]] had published five novels in the preceding five years: ''Casino Royale'' in 1953, ''[[Live and Let Die (novel)|Live and Let Die]]'' (1954), ''[[Moonraker (novel)|Moonraker]]'' (1955), ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (novel)|Diamonds Are Forever]]'' (1956) and ''[[From Russia, with Love (novel)|From Russia, with Love]]'' in 1957. A sixth, ''[[Dr. No (novel)|Dr. No]]'', was being edited and prepared for production.{{sfn|Lycett|1996|p=315}}{{sfn|"Ian Fleming's James Bond Titles". Ian Fleming Publications}}{{efn|''Dr. No'' was published at the end of March 1958.{{sfn|Lycett|1996|p=345}} }} That month Fleming travelled to his [[Goldeneye (estate)|Goldeneye estate]] in Jamaica to write ''Goldfinger''. He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in ''[[Hansom Books|Books and Bookmen]]'' magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning&nbsp;... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written&nbsp;... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day."{{sfn|Faulks|Fleming|2009|p=320}} He returned to London in March that year with a 270-page typescript, the longest he had produced to that time.{{sfn|Benson|1988|p=17}} He initially gave the manuscript the title ''The Richest Man in the World'';{{sfn|Chancellor|2005|p=128}} few alterations were made to the story before publication.{{sfn|Benson|1988|p=17}}

Although Fleming did not date the events within his novels, John Griswold and [[Henry Chancellor (filmmaker)|Henry Chancellor]]—both of whom wrote books for [[Ian Fleming Publications]]—identified different timelines based on events and situations within the [[List of James Bond novels and short stories|novel series]] as a whole. Chancellor put the events of ''Goldfinger'' in 1957; Griswold is more precise, and considers the story to have taken place from late April to early June that year.{{sfn|Griswold|2006|p=9}}{{sfn|Chancellor|2005|p=99}}

Fleming had long been fascinated with gold.{{sfn|Chancellor|2005|p=129}} He was a collector of Spanish [[doubloon]]s,{{sfn|Hopson|2019}} and he commissioned a gold-plated typewriter from the [[Royal Typewriter Company]],{{sfn|Benson|1988|p=4}} although he never actually used it;{{sfn|Chancellor|2005|p=129}}{{efn|In 1995 the gold typewriter was purchased by the actor [[Pierce Brosnan]], who portrayed Bond on screen.{{sfn|"Irish buyer for Bond typewriter". ''The Irish Times''}}}} he wrote with a gold-tipped ballpoint pen and included the theft or obtaining of gold in several of his stories.{{sfn|Hopson|2019}}{{efn|Gold appears as buried pirate treasure in ''Live and Let Die'', stolen Nazi plunder in the short story "[[Octopussy and The Living Daylights|Octopussy]]" and, in ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun (novel)|The Man with the Golden Gun]]'', [[Francisco Scaramanga]] uses a gold-plated [[Colt's Manufacturing Company|Colt]] .45 revolver, which fires silver-jacketed solid-gold bullets.{{sfn|Hopson|2019}}{{sfn|Fleming|2006b|p=29}}}} When researching for ''Goldfinger'', Fleming reinforced his knowledge of gold by sending a questionnaire to an expert at the [[Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths]]—one of the [[livery companies]] of the [[City of London]] who [[assay]] precious metals for purity—with a list of queries about gold, its properties and the background of the industry, including smuggling.{{sfn|Lycett|1996|p=327}}

Fleming had originally conceived the card game scene as a separate short story but instead used the device for Bond and Goldfinger's first encounter.{{sfn|Chancellor|2005|p=129}} The architect [[Ernő Goldfinger]] threatened to sue Fleming over the use of the name. With the book already printed but not released, Fleming threatened to add an erratum slip to the book changing the name from Goldfinger to Goldprick and explaining why;{{sfn|Lycett|1996|p=328}} the matter was settled out of court after the publishers, [[Jonathan Cape]], paid Ernő's legal costs, agreed to ensure the name Auric was always used in conjunction with Goldfinger and sent him six copies of the novel.{{sfn|Macintyre|2008|p=92}}{{sfn|Warburton|2005|p=3}}

Once Fleming completed the novel—which he found the easiest of all the Bond books to write—he thought he had exhausted his inspiration for plots. He told the writer [[William Plomer]]—his friend who proof-read all the Bond books—that ''Goldfinger'' was to be "the last full length folio on Bond&nbsp;... Though I may be able to think up some episodes for him in the future, I shall never be able to give him 70,000 words again".{{sfn|Pearson|1967|pp=361, 369}}